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“Not much Sir, they’ve got some old Soviet mines but we’ve some evidence from the ROKN that they’ve been making their own. It’ll be tethered to the seabed, some have contact detonation, some have timers too.”

He’d been dreading that one. The thing could be up there ticking away right now.

“Half left rudder, keep backing up.” They must put some distance between them and the mine.

“Rudder fully aft, keep going.” Two minutes passed by. Another scraping sound came from the sail. Oh shit, not another.

“Forward four knots, half left rudder.” It couldn’t be much worse. It was like playing blind man’s bluff in a dark room full of shotguns, with all their triggers wired up with nylon lines. Wander into a line, pull it and that’s it.

He looked to his XO. “We’ve wandered into a goddamn minefield.”

Chapter 4

FROM THE STARBOARD side came a massive boom; it was some way off but still the boat rocked and weaved in the boiling turbulence.

“That would have been the first mine going up,” said Weaps, “seems they’re on a timer.”

“It’s looking like a four minute delay, that’s if they’re all the same.”

“Head for the detonation point,” said Nathan. “It can’t go off twice.” He knew they were heading out of there; there was no getting into the base now.

“Kaminski, nav us the best route out of here.”

“Commander, can you give me a 360?” she asked.

“Yep, blow one, come to periscope depth.” Once there he set up his console for a three sixty. The scope rose above the surface, did a 360 and submerged.

“Take the 360 Kaminski and do your stuff.” He looked at the image himself, it was just starting to break dawn up there.

Nathan zoomed in on a part of the screen. “Joe Gook is up early today. We’ll be having company soon.”

Two Corvettes from the main Sinpo base were heading their way.

“Flood one. Open and trim vents fore and aft. Make for depth. Down bubble twenty, depth fifty.”

“Aye aye Sir. Down twenty, depth fifty.”

“At the det point, Sir.”

“Coast the boat.” A few minutes later the sound of props was just audible.

“Sonar?”

“Yes Sir, the two Corvettes, they’re not pinging, they’re using passive search.”

“Keep me in the loop, ok? I need to know what’s going on.”

“Yes Sir, sorry.” The sonar operator listened for a few minutes. “Sir, they’re moving further out to the east, equispaced, one north, one south.”

“Best exit route Kaminski?”

“Bearing three two degrees, Sir, it takes us close to the northern patrol boat but that’s the best run out.”

“Weaps, get me a firing solution on that boat and designate it Tango one.”

“Sir.”

“Solution laid in, Sir.”

“Remind me of our warshot loading.”

“Sir, warshot. Tubes one to four Mk 48 CBASS. Tubes five Harpoon, six clear. Vertical VPM launch tubes with twenty one Tomahawk BGM-109 cruise missiles. Tube two is working now Sir, it was a fault on the fish, it’s now fixed.” A terrific boom sounded to the south, within seconds the boat heaved then rolled with the shockwave. The second mine had blown.

“Sir, something entering the water from the north, it’s east of us. There’s a line moving south.”

There were deep thuds from the east.

“I think they’re mortars, air dropped. A north to south barrier line.”

Just north, there was a plop into the sea followed by a powerful explosion. The hull shook.

“Ship launched anti-submarine mortars, Sir.” Another mortar exploded to the south. There was a further plop and a mortar exploded just to the south. The boat heaved violently to the north.

“Split and leakage in ring main two, damage control team on it!” The COB shouted, alarm in his voice.

“Sir, air dropped line has started again, advancing north.” Deep thuds sounded to the south-east line of advance, moving to the north.

“Get us to the site of the first mortar drop Kaminski.”

“Steer, zero five zero.”

“Planesman, do as she says.”

“Aye aye, Sir.” The whole area had become a forest of air and ship-launched weapons.

“XO, they’re trying to keep us in here with that airdropped curtain, while these two vessels systematically whack different sections. They’ll get lucky eventually.” Another mortar blew off to the north, and the boat lurched to the south and rolled in the turbulence. There was only one thing for it. Another mortar exploded to the south violently shaking the boat, and the hull groaned.

“Sonar. The airdrop line is advancing towards the south.”

“How far south?”

“Almost due east of us.”

“Give me a clear run east, Kaminski.”

“Forty degrees, it’s right underneath the northernmost Corvette, Sir.”

Nathan swallowed and gripped the Conn’s rail. “Planesman. Forty degrees. All ahead full.”

“Aye Sir, all ahead and forty degrees.” The boat surged ahead, picking up speed.

“Sonar. Airdrop line is reversing, now heading north.”

Come on, come on. Would she make it before the air dropped mortar curtain reached them? She was now at max speed. The airdrops got louder as they marched north. Nathan’s grip tightened and he realized he was holding his breath. Boom, boom, boom. He looked up as the boat pitched up from the rear. That was behind them, they were through the curtain.

Thank God.

* * *

ANOTHER MINUTE AND the devil’s drum set at the east entrance was behind them.

“Come to two eighty, update firing solution on Tango one. Get me a firing solution on the southernmost boat and designate as Tango two.” Less than a minute later, Weaps came back.

“T1 and T2 are locked Sir.”

“Flood tubes one and two, open outer doors.

Tube one, lock in for Tango two. Tube two for Tango one.”

“Tubes ready in all respects Sir,”

“Launch tube one.” There was a rushing sound up forward.

“Good launch, the fish is hungry.”

“Weaps, launch tube two.” The rushing sounded again.

Nathan counted down the seconds, then raised the periscope. He set it to wide angle, framing it so there was a Corvette on either side of the screen.

“Weaps. Wire cut on T1, fish pinging, revs up, running in. Wire now cut on T2, fish pinging, revs up, running in. Both fish are terminal.” There was a pause. “Hot datum on T1. Hot datum on T2.”

On Nathan’s screen, the southernmost ship was lifted out of the water by the explosion. She fell back into the sea split in two. The northernmost Corvette was ripped apart, the torpedo having struck the magazine. Nathan lowered the scope.

“Bearing forty five degrees, speed eighteen knots. Let’s get clear.”

Nathan knew that was the eastern channel shut off, it only left the western side and that was netted and shut as tight as a turtle’s ass.

USS BENFIELD.

HE STOOD AT THE FORE end of the bow, spray mixed with sleet blew over the gunnels. Out in front was the grey Sea of Japan, where the wind blew from the crests of the white horses. It was cold that morning. Out there over the horizon was the small port of Geojin-Ri, Republic of Korea. It lay about ten miles south of the North Korean border.

Captain Chris Harding of the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Benfield (DDG-65) turned to return inside his ship. He liked to drink in the environment, to get a feel for where he was. They’d sailed out of the 7th Fleet base at Yokosuka Japan three days ago; his mission was to patrol the South Korean coast from the northern border south to Ulsan and back.